Infinite Loop —

Maine negotiating expansion of educational MacBook program

Will deploy over 100,000 MacBooks to 7–12 graders.

Apple hardware can already be found in many educational institutions, but the company is always looking to expand the number of students using its products. Apple obviously wants to sell as many Macs as possible given the state of the economy, so a big educational order is music to the company's ears. According to the Associated Press, a big one may be in the works: the State of Maine is currently negotiating with Apple to lease 100,000 MacBooks for students in middle schools and high schools statewide.

Maine has been putting notebooks in schools since 2002 and, despite the occasional hiccup, the program has gone quite well, and has been expanded a bit from the 30,000 iBooks that were initially distributed to students in the seventh and eighth grades. Students in 30 or so high schools have since received Apple notebooks, bringing the total number of machines in use to 37,000 (don't worry, they've been upgraded from the original iBooks).

Maine would like to add an additional 57,000 MacBooks to the program, for a grand total of 100,000 notebooks, which will be leased for a period of four years and will go to all high schools and middle schools. So, just what does it cost to lease 100,00 MacBooks? The state would like to pay $242 per year for each MacBook, for a grand total of $25 million per year, or about twice what Maine is currently paying for 37,000 notebooks.

Apple and the Education Department are still working out the particulars of the deal, but it sounds like Maine is getting a pretty good price. Taxpayers don't have to worry, either, since expansion of the program will apparently be done with existing resources, although, given the state's current budget deficit, I'm sure some will argue that the money would be better spent elsewhere.